MercuryNews.com | 02/24/2006 | Silicon Valley Charity Ball board faces facts: the party's over

MercuryNews.com | 02/24/2006 | Silicon Valley Charity Ball board faces facts: the party's over: "Silicon Valley Charity Ball board faces facts: the party's over
TRADITION PASSES AMID RISE OF MORE TARGETED CHARITABLE GIVING
Mercury News Editorial

The themes of 18 Silicon Valley Charity Balls over 19 years involved adventure or glamour more often than nostalgia. But this week the ball itself joins orchards, prune yards and canneries as part of the valley's past. It's another rite of passage for a place that embodies change.

The charity ball's planners were right to end the tradition. But two decades was a healthy run.

The ball was conceived when Silicon Valley was giddy with new economic power but still grappling with its civic identity. The tech industry was generating enormous wealth but lacked the tradition of social responsibility typical of older companies in San Francisco and in rust belt cities of the East and Midwest. The charity ball founders saw it as a way to stimulate civic engagement while raising money."